Blueberry Basil Ice Pops

We put a variety of herbs in our Balconera self-watering planters this year. The basil has done exceptionally well, and when my wife bought a big container of blueberries, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

One of the most memorable sorbets I’ve ever had is the blueberry basil flavour from Soma. I used to work in an office a few steps away from their King St. store, and I once got a scoop on a hot summer day. The two flavours were distinct and intense, yet very complementary.

I decided to make ice pops instead, following two recipes from People’s Pops. The blueberry and cardamom recipe called for one cup of simple syrup to 1 1/3 pounds of blueberries. That ratio gave me the starting point for sweetness. And the raspberry basil recipe provided the infusion recipe: 1 1/3 cups of simple syrup to three 6-inch springs of basil.

Our basil is very fresh, but we found that the quantities above did not make for a very intense basil flavour. We infused an additional bunch of basil in some warm water, then stirred that into the ice pop mixture.

While these turned out wonderfully, I still wanted more basil flavour to balance the blueberry. Next time, maybe I’ll experiment with pureeing some of the leaves right into the mixture.